


After the Storm

by ofthedells



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Camping, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Flashbacks, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Memes, Murder, Mutual Pining, Panic Attacks, Pining, cascada - Freeform, idk - Freeform, kinda??, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 08:08:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7793878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofthedells/pseuds/ofthedells
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Allura, Pidge, Hunk, Lance and Keith go camping. Keith is struggling with his enormous crush on Lance, as well as his crippling fear of thunderstorms. Lance is just trying to make Keith smile again. Allura is stuggling with the fact that Lance and Hunk forgot to pack any food so she is stuck eating marshmallows for the next three days. Hunk and Pidge are just Livin' Life™.</p><p>Or: Angst & Memers</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> "But there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.  
> And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.  
> Get over your hill and see what you find there,  
> With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair."
> 
> -Mumford and Sons, "After The Storm"
> 
>  
> 
> (**trigger warning for panic attacks, flashbacks**)

Keith had never been camping in his life, he had never planned to go. When one lives in a group home you really don’t get out on many vacations. So when his friends in college, far away from the group home, decided to camping, at first he refused. Then they told him Lance was going.

If Lance went and he didn’t, what would that make him? The two had an intense rivalry, if Lance planned to see a new movie, Keith had to see it first. If Keith got a chocolate milk at lunch, Lance would get two and drink them before Lance could finish his. Well, that was the main reason.

Keith wasn’t quite sure when the rivalry between him and his roommate had started, but he faintly remembered it having to do with grades. Keith couldn’t just let Lance go camping without him. There were too many opportunities for him to one up him when he wasn’t there. So when Pidge asked again, if he wanted to camp with them, Keith begrudgingly accepted the invitation.

Over the long weekend, Allura, Pidge, Hunk, Lance, and Keith, all drove up to a campsite a couple hours from campus and set everything up. Being stressed college students, they weren’t very prepared, plus Shiro couldn’t come with them, he was always the one to organize things. Well, Pidge and Allura had been prepared. Hunk, Lance and Keith, however, were not.

Allura and Pidge were in charge of sleeping arrangements. They had asked around and gone to thrift stores, scoring three waterproof tents with a couple of sleeping bags. Hunk and Lance were put in charge of necessities like food and water, and Keith in charge of emergency supplies. Keith brought a couple of little flashlights sold for Halloween at Party City. Lance and Hunk decided to split up what they were doing, their conversation had only really revolved around S’mores so they both assumed the other would get everything else. Long story short, all the group had to eat for three days was two packs of marshmallows, two giant packs of Hersheys, and two boxes of graham crackers.

Allura was pissed, Pidge wasn’t surprised, and Keith was hungry. Luckily, Allura had a couple packs of water bottles in the back of her van. They all got over it eventually. The car ride up was long and hot, Allura’s van had no ac. Keith spent the entire time playing a heated round of Go Fish with Lance and Pidge, Pidge won every time. They made Lance cry. Multiple times. Hunk spent his time being the DJ for the ride. He was very protective over the aux cord.

“Hunk. If I hear one more Cascada song, I might throw myself under the wheels of the van.” Allura said, through gritted teeth.

“No!”

“Leave it!” Lance and Keith cried at the same time. They narrowed their eyes at each other and had a very intense game where they each tried to name as many Cascada times as they could.

“Evacuate the Dancefloor!”

“What Hurts the Most!”

“Bad Boy!”

“Everytime We Touch!”

“Everytime We Touch, the Nightcore edit!”

“The Nightcore edit doesn’t count.” Pidge sighed, not looking up from their game of solitaire. “Keith wins.”

“Hah!” Keith cried, pointing a finger at Lance.

Lance looked down and then reached out to grab Keith’s hand. He looked into Keith’s eyes, a dramatic expression on his face. “Keith…”

Keith blushed. “What?”

“Everytime we touch…” Lance said deeply, “I get this feeling.”

Keith smirked. “Everytime we kiss.” He gulped. “I swear I could fly.”

“Can’t you feel my heart beat fast? I want this to last! Need you by my siiiide!” They both belted.

They went on for awhile until Allura screamed at them to both cut it out and forced Hunk to change the song.

Once at the campsite, everyone began to unload the car. Keith looked around, in awe. They were surrounded by magnificent pines and oaks, looming over them, almost blocking out the sky. The sunlight fell through gaps in the trees and dappled the ground. The air smelled fresh and clean, he ran up past the clearing where they were to camp and looked over the hillside, there was a trail leading down the hill to a sparkling lake. He closed his eyes and felt a warm breeze surround him and lift up his hair.

“Hey mullet head! We kinda need a hand setting up.” Hunk called, breaking Keith’s trance.

“Coming.” He said, blushing. He ran back to the campsite to help set up. Keith was amazed by the nature around them, he grew up the city, he had never left it until college. Which was also in a city. He wasn’t used to the quiet, to the soft rustles in the brush and the call of birds. The fresh air.

After setting up, the group headed down to the lake for a swim. Hunk threw Pidge up in the air and in the water, giving them piggy back rides and letting Pidge launch off of Hunk’s knees back into the water. Keith and Lance had a series of competitions, who could hold their breath longer (Keith), who could tread water the longest (Lance), who could catch a minnow (neither of them), who could swim the farthest and fastest (Allura). Allura mostly sunned herself on the beach, when she wasn’t kicking Lance or Keith’s asses and being the Mom Friend™.

That night they had a filling dinner of S’mores, to the group’s relief Allura managed to find a box of goldfish under a seat in her van and a jar of peanut butter in Hunk’s bag.

“Why did you put this in your bag?” Pidge asked, inspecting the jar. “Scratch that, when?”

Hunk turned up his nose and frowned. “You never know when you need peanut butter.” He pointed an accusing finger at Pidge. “You should be grateful! Now we don’t need eat S’mores for three days!” Pidge and Hunk proceeded to fight over the nutritious value of peanut butter on graham crackers vs. the nutritious value of peanut butter on goldfish, which led into a discussion on global warming, to a discussion on politics,which somehow led to an argument on Lady Gaga’s love life.

“I just want her to be happy!”

“She doesn’t need a man to be happy, you misogynist!”

That night they retired to their respected tents. Allura got her own tent. She declared herself a queen, the rest of them peasants and proceeded to shame Lance and Hunk on their poor decisions relating to the group’s food, then shame Keith on the poor quality flashlights he had purchased, before retreating to her ‘palace.’

Pidge and Hunk choose to room together, they wanted to continue their discussion, and Pidge smirked at Keith.

“Sleep tight.” Pidge said with a wink before disappearing through the tent flap.

Keith sighed and frowned. He didn’t know what Pidge was trying to pull, he and Lance were roommates, they slept in the same room every single night and nothing happened.

Pidge was the first one to know that Keith had a crush on Lance. And it wasn’t because Keith told them. It was because Pidge was a sneaky little brat who-

Keith sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Pidge and him had a late night study session that ended up with Keith falling asleep on the floor of Pidge’s room. Apparently Keith had mentioned Lance in his sleep, repeating his name over and over again. Pidge had interrogated him when he awoke, and although Keith denied it, his bright red face gave him away.

So what if Keith liked his roommate? It wasn’t like it was the most stereotypical thing ever. Right? Besides, Keith didn’t even know if Lance like men. He flirted with everyone, he didn’t seem to have much of a preference. But even if Lance was into guys, that didn’t mean he’d ever like Keith.

Keith had run through all the possible scenarios in his mind of if he could ask Lance out, and none of them worked out in his favor. He decided that the best option would be to keep it quiet. That way he wouldn’t get rejected, he’d get to keep Lance in his life.

In the tent, Lance busied himself with scrolling through his phone. Keith changed under the covers of his sleeping bag, a difficult task, into his pajamas and pulled out some homework.

“You’re studying?” Lance asked with disgust.

“You’re not?” Keith raised an eyebrow.

“Fair point.” Lance gave up. He tossed his phone aside and flopped down onto his sleeping bag. “Man, I’m fucking exhausted.” He smirked at Keith, which caused his face to flush red. “Singing Cascada really takes it out of me.”

Keith snorted. “You mean screeching Cascada.”

Lance laughed and closed his eyes. “You mean slaying at Cascada.” He murmured.

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Keith sighed, giving up on his homework.

“Whatever.” Lance pulled the sleeping bag up around him. “Bet I can fall asleep first.” He muttered, already halfway there.

Keith smiled fondly at his friend and switched off the crappy flashlights. He could hear Pidge and Hunk arguing faintly in the next tent. He tried not to stare, but he found his gaze drifting to Lance’s sleeping face. He looked so peaceful. Like nothing in the world could touch him. He snored softly, turning around in his sleep.

Keith always let him win the falling asleep bet.

☆☆☆

If Lance was the first to fall asleep, Keith was the first to wake up. The sound of rain battering the tent woke him right away. His heart sped up and he sat up quickly. He hated the rain. Rain reminded him of clouds, which reminded him of thunder, which reminded him of storms which reminded him of…

Luckily, there was no thunder tonight. Just a soft drizzle that lazily rolled off of the tent onto the grass below. Keith put his head in his knees and held himself tightly. He took a few deep breaths.

No thunder. Not today. It’s alright.

He picked up his phone, the screen shone brightly. 5:27 AM. He sighed and tossed it aside. After a few minutes of rocking back and forth, he calmed down enough to lay down. He glanced at Lance, who slept soundly. The picture of calm. He turned away, tracing the outline of raindrops running down the tent. He waited. And waited. And waited.

Eventually, his phone screen read 8:03, he knew at least Pidge would be up. Pidge never slept much.

“Sleep is for the weak!” He could almost hear them say.

He sighed, giving Lance one last look. He shoved his shoes on and grabbed his sweater, ducking out of his tent and sprinting to Pidge and Hunk’s tent. Sure enough the two were up, engaged in a game of Spades, The Turtles, “You Showed Me” softly playing from Hunk’s phone.

“Hey.” Keith said, sitting down. “Hunk you have the weirdest taste.”

“Hey.” Hunk pointed a finger at him. “The Turtles were a gift.”

“Morning.” Pidge said. “I can deal you in next round.”

The three of them sat there in the rain for awhile, playing cards and listening to Hunk’s music, which ranged from Lady Gaga, to Cascada, to The Turtles, to Kendrick Lamar. The rain faded out around ten, Lance and Allura still weren’t up. They decided that whoever woke up last would get the gift of having a dick drawn on their face by the talented Pidge, and were sorely disappointed when Allura and Lance both entered the tent at the same time.

“Yo.” Allura yawned, tossing the graham crackers at them. “Breakfast.”

“Thanks for getting it down, Mom.” Pidge said, ripping open a new package of crackers.

“Hey you need to ration those, we only have so many.” Hunk protested.

“Get down?” Keith asked.

“Yeah.” Lance said with a yawn, sitting beside Keith. “You gotta tie up your food so bears don’t get it.”

“Bears?” Keith gulped.

“Yep.” Lance grinned at him.

“Can’t they climb trees?” Keith asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Whatever man, I just know that it’s what you’re supposed to do.” Lance huffed, stretching ouit his back.

The group shared their breakfast of graham crackers and chatted and argued about what to do that day. The whole time Keith was trying not to noticed how his leg brushed up against Lance’s.

The whole group decided to go on a hike, changing into jeans and boots, they set off on the trails leading down the hill. Keith was still in awe of the nature around him, well until Lance pointed at a particularly big tree, grinning and stated, “she thicc.” That earned him a slap from Allura.

Keith had his head in the clouds, looking around. He was trying to find some sort of wildlife, a deer maybe? When he tripped on the trail, it was pretty steep at that point, so the fall was bad.

“AHHHHH!” He screamed.

Lance turned around.

“AHHHHH!” He screamed as well, holding out his arms. The two collided, Keith falling into Lance’s arms and the two tumbled down the hill together. They landed at the bottom, near the lake, tangled together. Keith’s face was bright red, but one could hardly tell due to all the mud on it. Lance was shocked at first.

“Fuck!” Allura shouted, bounding down to the two of them. “You guys okay?”

Lance blinked his eyes and then assumed a suspicious expression. “Yeah, but you know what we need?” He raised an eyebrow at Keith, who’s heart pounded against his chest.

“W-what?” He croaked.

Lance reached into Keith’s jacket pocket, pulling out his phone and tossing it to Allura. “A bath.”

Yelling wildly, he picked Keith up, princess style, and bolted for the water.

“Christ!” Keith shouted as Lance launched off of the ground and dove into the lake, Keith still in his arms.

They emerged from the water, face to face, Lance laughing his ass off. Keith couldn’t do anything but stare. Lance stopped laughing after a bit and met Keith’s eyes. Keith’s face was still bright and flushed, they were super close together, their noses just an inch away.

“Uh, Keith, I just-” Lance stuttered, but he was interrupted when Hunk screamed, “cannonball bitch!” And leapt right between them, throwing them back underwater.

After about half an hour of Keith, Lance and Hunk fooling around in the water, with Allura and Pidge conversing on shore, the sky darkened with clouds.  
“Uh oh.” Hunk said. “Looks like it’s gonna rain soon. We’d better, get back to camp.” The three of them swam to shore and the group made its way back.

Allura hung up everyone’s wet clothes along a clothesline she thought to bring, that hung between the trees. The rest of the group was in Pidge and Hunk’s tent, seeing as it was the biggest and cleanest. They played a rousing game of B.S. (Allura won). Played charades (Pidge won), played truth or dare, (it was a tight race between Keith and Lance, but Hunk won in the end when he went streaking through the woods.). They shared a nutritious meal of cold marshmallows.

“You can’t have nutritious without nut!” Lance said, very proud of himself for making that observation.

“Lance, say something like that in my presence ever again and I swear to God you will lose the ability to nut, entirely.” Allura snapped, not looking up from her marshmallow.

“Sorry mom.” He said, sullenly.

The rain began to fall around nine. The group decided it would be best for everyone to return o their tents before the rain got worse.

Lance was changing into his pajamas in the corner, humming some unfamiliar song under his breath. Keith sat by the tent flap, he had unzipped the inner flap so he could peer at the rain through the outer mesh flap.

“Lance?” He asked quietly.

“Yeah?” Lance said, crawling over to join him by the flap. “Shit, it’s really coming down now.”

“Do you think it’s going to storm? With thunder and stuff?” Keith asked, his voice barely audible.

“I mean probably. It looks pretty bad.” Lance mused, inspecting the rain. “Don’t worry about it though, my family used to go camping all the time and we camped during storms. We’re in a good spot here, we’re pretty sheltered by the hill that the parking lot is in, plus all the trees.” He waved his hand around. He paused when he noticed Keith’s expression. “Hey,” he placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder, a concerned look on his face. “You okay? You look kind of sick.”

Keith didn’t meet his eyes and instead fiddled with the zipper on the tent. “I just don’t really like storms.” He gulped. “At all.”

“We’ve had storms before, back at campus, you never told me about that before.” Lance said, his eyes worried.

Keith tried to chuckle awkwardly. “Usually I’m okay at hiding it. Uh, my anxiety that is.” He blushed and looked at his hands. “It’s embarrassing.”

“So, every time we’ve slept through a storm, you were just silently suffering?” Lance cried.

Keith winced. “Yeah?”

“Hey tell me next time, dude. I’d totally stay up with you if you’re scared. I’m like seriously afraid of spiders, and I always make you kill them, so it’s really a fair trade.”

Keith laughed nervously, gazing back out at the darkened sky and pouring rain. Lance studied his face for awhile longer.

“Hey,” Lance started, “when my little brother and I shared a room, he was really afraid of monsters under his bed and shit, so he made up push our beds together.” He tugged at his collar, Keith couldn’t tell if it was the weird lighting from the halloween flashlight, but he thought Lance might be blushing a little. “Do you wanna, push our sleeping bags together? Maybe?” He met Keith’s eyes again.

“Uh,” Keith started, unsure of how to respond. He looked out the sky, his brow furrowed, he didn’t want to crowd Lance or anything, but… he looked at Lance’s face. Lance was genuinely concerned for him. That was a first. Some of the kids in his group home had made fun of him for his fear, one time locking him a little closet during a thunderstorm. Plus, Lance looked so cute when he was asleep.

“Yeah.” He said, finally. “That’s really cool of you, dude.” He tried keeping it casual. “I really appreciate it.”

Lance nodded. The two sat there for awhile longer, both looking out at the sky. Eventually Lance scooted away, grabbing a book from his backpack.

“Is that manga?” Keith asked, laughing.

“Hey.” Lance pointed a finger at him. “I take my Ouran Highschool Host Club very seriously, young man.”

“Young man?’ Keith laughed. He was trying to distract himself. He was taking deep breaths, his foot tapping against the ground. Maybe it would just rain, maybe there wouldn’t be any thunder or lightning. He closed his eyes briefly. He was tired from the hike and the swimming they had done, but he knew he wouldn’t sleep tonight. Lance would fall asleep eventually, and he’d be alone, fighting his memories and fighting his fears.

He felt Lance’s eyes on him, Lance had looked up from his manga and was watching him with a concerned expression.

“Hey man, maybe you should close the screen and stuff. Agonizing over it will only make it worse.”

Keith nodded. “Yeah.” He zipped the flap shut and crawled over to his sleeping bag.

After a short time, Lance put his stuff away and pushed his sleeping bag up to Keith’s, a few inches between them. THe two go into their separate sleeping bags and shut off the flashlight.

Keith listened to the rain closely. It had gotten much worse since they had all left Pidge and Hunk’s tent, the wind had also picked up. It sounded as if it raced through the trees, slamming up by the lake, and starting over all over again. He was tense, his breathing short and quick.

Sure enough, Lance drifted off to sleep after some murmured small talk. Keith lay there, battling with himself. He wanted to sleep, he wanted to forget. And then, a crash of thunder brought it all back.

He sat up quickly, gasping for breath, his mind whirling.

☆☆☆

The thunder cracked in the distance, lightning lit up the room and Keith saw a muddy pair of boots standing outside of his door. His breathing quickened and he held tight to his stuffed bear. He fought the urge to sneeze, it was dusty underneath the bed.

He heard a scream, his mother. He cried out, pressing his face up to his bear to muffle his sobs. The boots in the hall, turned his direction, he shook and cried quietly. He heard his mother scream again, this time it was cut off mid-scream. He heard a loud shot, echoing through the dark house.

Mama!

He scooted forward a little, so he could see the hallway. Maybe the boots belonged to his dad. Maybe it was just the TV, maybe it was all a nightmare. Lightning lit up the house, the man in the hall was not his father. Keith gasped, and hugged his bear tightly. Lightning flashed again. The man’s face was illuminated, and he was staring right at Keith.

The man walked toward him, boots crunching on broken glass. Blood stains mingled with the dirt and grass on the bottom of the boot. It approached slowly and Keith heard the click of the gun in the man’s hand.

When the lightning flashed again there was an upside down face, smirking and pale, right in front of Keith’s face. He screamed and backed up, he dove towards his toy chest, tripping over his bear.  
A pale hand began to reach for him. Keith couldn’t tell the difference between his shouts and the thunder.

Then, sirens, through the booming thunder. Keith heard sirens pulling up out front of the house.

“Shit.” The owner of the boots hissed. He called out to someone else in the house. “We gotta go, no time for the kid.” The boots ran off and were gone.

Keith got up and ran to his parents room, thunder booming and lightning flashing through the halls. The wind and rain rattled the windows, he entered the bedroom door to see his mother and father sprawled on the floor blood tric-

☆☆☆

“Keith!”

Keith blinked and looked up. Tears were pouring from his eyes, he was holding his knees tight to his chest and had been rocking back and forth. He wiped the tears from his face to see Lance crouching in front of him, a hand held tight on his shoulder.

“Lance?” He whispered. He wasn’t used to anyone helping him when he was afraid.

“Keith, what’s going on? My phone woke me up and I saw you sitting here, are you okay? You were just shaking and crying.” Lance looked like me might cry too.

Keith couldn’t respond. Thunder roared over them birefly and he jumped.

Thunder booming, Mama screaming...where’s dad?

He gripped himself tighter, and suddenly felt a heaviness over him. Lance had wrapped his arms around him.

“I don’t know what’s going on.” Lance murmured. “But this definitely isn’t a normal fear of thunderstorms.” He put a hand on Keith’s head. “Try to take deep breaths, okay?’

Keith was crying too hard. He put his head on his knees again. Lance just hugged him tighter. They sat like that, Keith trying to breathe, Lance holding him. Keith managed to calm down a little bit, he was still shaking though.

“Hey, maybe try to lay down.” Lance suggested softly.

Keith’s brow furrowed. Lightning lit up the tent.

The upside down face looking at him, pale skin, horrible eyes, bloodshot and wide open, grinning at him.

“Hey.” Lance said soothingly. “I won’t let you go.”

Keith studied his face momentarily, and laid down. Facing the tent.

“Uh, this might be awkward for you, but we’re kind of spooning right now.” Lance chuckled nervously.

Keith would’ve normally been excited, but he kept thinking of that horrible night. The night his parents died. He couldn’t stop shaking.

He felt Lance’s arms wrap around him and hold him tightly. He shifted so he was facing Lance. There was a lull in the storm, the rain continued to pound the tent and the wind howled outside.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered. “I’m such a freak.”

“Don’t be.” Lance said firmly. “But, could you maybe let me know what’s going on?”

Keith took a deep breath. He had never told anyone before. “I’ve hated storms… ever since my parents died.” He shuddered as another boom of thunder crossed over, squeezing his eyes shut as it was followed by a strike of lightning. “Our house was broken into. My parents woke up, and they were killed.” He tensed up as tears flooded his eyes. “I was hiding under the bed. There was this huge storm. I was really scared. I heard shots, I hear my parents screaming. Then there was this flash of lightning, I saw one of the robbers standing outside my door, he heard me cry. There was another flash and I saw him, right there-” He couldn’t continue, thinking of the face that plagued his nightmares.

Lance held him close. “It’s okay.” He murmured into Keith’s hair. “You’re here now.”

Keith sobbed now, “his face was right there! I could’ve touched it. He was just smiling at me.” Thunder rumbled and Keith flinched. Lance holding onto him still.

Lance held him tightly as he cried, murmuring comforting words to him every now and then in a hushed tone.

Eventually the storm moved on. The rain continued to beat down on the little tent, a small puddle forming in the corner. Keith’s sobs quieted, he let the tears silently roll down his face.

Lance held Keith at a distance, surveying him. “So now every time there’s a storm you remember?” He asked quietly.

“Yes.” Keith muttered, he didn’t want to look Lance in the eye. He was ashamed. Ashamed of his anxieties.

“Who helped you through it?” Lance asked.

Keith paused. “You’re actually the first person I’ve told. The kids at my group home only knew that I was scared of them. Once they locked me in a little closet during one.” He sighed. “It’s stupid, I know. I’m so stupid and weak and-”

“No.” Keith raised his eyes to Lance’s. Lance looked at him directly. “They aren’t stupid. Your fears are valid. You aren’t stupid or weak for feeling this way.” He took Keith’s hand and squeezed it. “You’re strong, Keith.”

Keith just stared at him.

☆☆☆

Keith awoke the next morning. His eyes puffy and sore, his throat hurt. He almost didn’t remember the night before, until he found himself entangled in Lance’s arms. He was curled up in Lance’s warm embrace. He faced the tent wall, to his horror he was the little spoon in the situation. He gulped, blushing furiously.

The rain had stopped, sun shone through the tent wall and little drips of water fell from the tree and onto the tent. He heard birds chirping and cicadas humming outside. He reached out and picked up his phone from the floor. 6:36 AM.

He rubbed his eyes and glanced over his shoulder at Lance’s sleeping face. Calm as usual. He remembered the events of last night. Lance had comforted him and held him as e cried, until they had both fallen asleep, exhausted.

Keith felt slightly horrified. He remembered Lance’s kind words on his fears being valid and that he was strong. That wasn’t what he was concerned with. He’d let Lance hold him and let him see the most raw and dark side of Keith. He’d opened up to Lance that night. And here they were, spooning. How in the fuck was Keith supposed to rid himself of this crush now?

He gulped. It felt good, laying here with Lance. But he knew he had to get up before Lance woke up. He needed to be out of the tent. He couldn’t let Lance know he liked him, it would ruin the great friendship between them.

He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to memorize how this felt. And then, slowly and painfully, he untangled himself and slipped out of the tent and into Pidge’s.

“Pidge.” He hissed, poking his friend repeatedly. “Wake the fuck up. Pidge. Pidge. Pidge.”

Pidge groaned and turned over, smushing their glasses onto their face. “Jesus didn’t die for you to come in here ane wake me up, asshole.” They muttered, sitting up and wiping the sleep out of their eyes,

“You’re the one who says sleep is for the weak.” Keith said flatly. “Now get dressed, I need to tell you something, and we probably shouldn’t wake up Hunk.” He said, glancing over at his sleeping friend.

☆☆☆

Pidge and Keith picked their way through the campsite and into the woods. The campsite was a mess, the clothesline was all wrapped up in a tree, Allura must have forgotten to take it down, the clothes, the ones still there, were muddied and scattered about. Big branches had fallen from the trees and onto the ground. Pidge and Keith made their way to a trail in the forest.

Keith told Pidge everything. Well, that was a lie, he told Pidge a lot. He told Pidge about how he was really scared of thunderstorms because they reminded him of something bad in his life, how they could trigger panic attacks, or just general horrible feelings. And how last night Lance had comforted him and things had got… cuddly.

Pidge considered everything Keith had told them for a moment, stopping to crouch down and poke some mushrooms that had popped up over the last few days. “First of all.” They started, standing up to look Keith in the eyes. “I’m sorry that storms make you feel like shit. That must really suck.” They sighed, pushing up their glasses. “Secondly, I think you should tell Lance how you feel. Maybe not right away, but eventually.” Pidge smirked. “I’m sure it wouldn’t go too badly.”

What did that mean?

Pidge and Keith made their way back to camp, Keith nervously anticipating seeing Lance, but by the time they returned everyone was awake, and Lance was nowhere in sight. 

Allura was throwing her bags into the van, her tent already folded up. Hunk was gathering up the littered marshmallows on the ground. Lance’s bags were already in the car.

“Pack up.” Allura sighed, disappointment tinging her voice. “My weather app says we’re in for more shitty weather and to be honest I’m not sure if these tents can handle another night in the pouring rain. I can’t believe we forgot to check the weather before we came on this dumb trip.” She growled to herself.

Pidge jogged over to gather up his stuff. Keith approached Allura. “Where’s Lance?” He asked coyly.

Without looking up she pointed a thumb towards the lake. “He’s trying to find the clothes that blew away from the clothesline last night. Yoiu can help him if you want.”

Keith took a deep breath and headed out to find Lance. He stumbled down the steep trail leading to the lake and saw a muddy shirt laying on the path. He picked it up. Lance had to be nearby.

“Lance?” He called out, cupping his hands around his mouth.

“Over here!” He heard Lance call out from deeper in the woods.Keith jogged through the brush to find Lance. He held a couple of muddy swimsuits in his hand. He wasn’t facing Keith. At the sight of his dear friend, Keith felt a surge of emotion. He didn’t want to lose Lance. He couldn’t. He decided to ignore PIdge’s advice and not tell him how he felt about him.

Keith sighed and shrugged, rubbing his hand through his hair. He looked at his feet. “Hey, Lance. About last night. Thanks a lot, I really appreciated it. You really…” He gulped. “Helped me get through the night. I just wanted to say sorry for being a burden and-”

He was cut off. Lance had turned around while he was talking and approached him. He cupped a hand around Keith’s jawline and pulled him into a kiss, placing his other hand on the small of Keith’s back. Keith’s eyes went wide. Then he reached his arms around Lance to pull him closer. He closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss. After a moment, Lance pulled away, sullenly look at the ground, his cheeks a bright red.

“Sorry.” He mumbled, running a hand through his hair. “You probably want nothing to do with me now. You probably think I’m a creep for doing that, especially after last night.” He sighed. “It’s just…” He met Keith’s stunned eyes. “I really like you Keith.”

Keith stood there, staring at Lance, his eyes as big as dinner plates. “You do?” He said, voice small.

“Yeah.” Lance blushed and turned his face away. “I have for awhile. I couldn’t keep it a secret anymore. I like everything about you, Keith. I love the way you look when you wake up, so sleepy and soft. How you’re so funny and sharp, even when you’re tired. I love the way you let me win some of our bets sometimes, and the way you think I don’t notice. The way you look when you get a good score on a test, how proud you are. How smart you are,” he stopped to take a breath, “I could go on forever. I- I understand if you don’t wanna be friends anymore or if you want a different roommate-”

“I like you too.”

“I just couldn’t keep it in anymore, and after last night when we, like, totally cuddled, I get it if you’re creeped out and-” He stopped, realizing what Keith had just said. “Wait what?”

“I like you too.” Keith said. “I thought you’d hate me if I told you?”

The two stared at eachother for a moment, then Lance began to laugh. Keith joined in and within a few minutes they were both laughing so hard tears began to stream out of their eyes. They howled with laughter. After quieting down a few minutes later Lance said, “wow we really didn’t get enough sleep last night.” He wiped away a tear before pulling Keith close for another kiss.

Though the kiss felt like it lasted forever, it must’ve only lasted a few moments.

“Gross.” He heard Hunk say. Hunk, Pidge and Allura were standing before them.

Keith startled and pulled away, blushing. Lance grabbed his hand and pulled him back, so they stood there, close, side by side.

“Anyway.” Allura said. “Now that that’s over with, we should get going. We don’t have any food. There’s a burger place like 45 minutes away we want to stop at. You two are the only ones who haven’t taken your tent down.

Lance and Keith exchanged a glance.

“Now.” Allura hissed.

“Yes ma’am!”

“Right on it, Mom!”

☆☆☆

The car ride back was long and hot. But Keith didn’t mind. His hand was entwined with Lance’s, they sat in the backseat, wind ruffling their hair. Hunk and Pidge exchanged friendly banter, Allura got a hold of the aux cord and old love songs floated through the air, the type of songs where nobody knew the name but everyone knew the words. Keith sat there with his friends, feeling completely at home as they travelled through the lush forest and on towards something new.He squeezed Lance's hand and smiled at him, Lance smiled back.

He couldn't wait for whatever adventures awaited them.  
Or burgers. That too, would be acceptable.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry this isn't very good:\\\ i'm too tired to proofread it rn (i will tho (probably) don't worry). this is my first voltron fic!! let me know how it is... it started off really lighthearted and then got deeper....idk man i'm strugglin' here...fluff just keeps me goin'
> 
> ALSO I reallllylyyy struggled with like not wanting to romanticize panic attakcs/anxieties and stuff?? but also i'm such a slut for hurt comfort fics? i really hope that isn't offensive at all, as a person with rlly bad anxiety i know how it feels and shit and i don't want it romanticized (i probably sound rlly fuckign dumb rn but cut me some slack it's past my bedtime and i haven't slept in days) if anyone wants to talk to me about that message me on my tumblr blog: eremint
> 
> i mean u could message me about anything rlly it doesn't have to be about that or even voltron. how's ur day goin? how r u? what's ur fave dog?
> 
> anyway. pls love me back. nobody will prob read this but if u do thank u so much.
> 
> (p.s. i'm sorry the end is so got dam cheesy)


End file.
